This March 10, 2015 photo provided by the University of Hawaii at Manoa HI-SEAS Human Factors Performance Study shows a dome in which six scientists lived an isolated existence to simulate life on a mission... (Neil Scheibelhut/University of Hawaii at Manoa via AP)

(Newser)
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Six scientists have completed a yearlong Mars simulation in Hawaii, where they lived in a dome on a Mauna Loa mountain in near isolation and could go outside only while wearing spacesuits. On Sunday, the simulation ended, and the scientists emerged, the AP reports. Kim Binsted, principal investigator for the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS), says the researchers are looking forward to getting in the ocean and eating fresh produce and other foods that weren't available in the dome. "I think they will enjoy having a beer as well," Binsted told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald last week.

Binsted says the simulation was the second-longest of its kind after a mission that lasted 520 days in Russia, and the fourth HI-SEAS mission. Space.com reports that when communication with the outside world did occur, there was a 20-minute delay reflective of the true communication delay between Earth and Mars.

My self I consider this whole thing is a waste of time and money; why? Simple, having a fake 20 minute delay and going outside in a "spacesuit" does not cut it. When something goes bad and it does in space very very bad and very quickly; they can in this experiment just open a door and walk out; in space you can not; you die. Another is there was the lack of radiation exposure for a year; never happened and allot more. You want to run a real test? Simple put it in space and isolated; no help and see what happens. Any takers?....Silence..... I thought so....

BassScunner

Aug 29, 2016 3:16 PM CDT

I would be interested in knowing how many fights and misunderstandings took place during this year.

BrushMan

Aug 29, 2016 12:12 PM CDT

NASA knows that colonization of foreign planets will never occur because the body's microbiome depends on exposure to bacteria in and on the earth's surface. To say that humans could live on alien planets is as naive as saying that giraffes could live in thermal vents on the ocean floor.